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Denver Nuggets announce 2 new additions to their staff

ByBrendan Vogt|
MINNEAPOLIS - SEPTEMBER 29: Calvin Booth
MINNEAPOLIS - SEPTEMBER 29: Calvin Booth

The Denver Nuggets announced two new additions to their basketball staff on Wednesday. Bob Weiss will join the Nuggets bench as an assistant coach, while Calvin Booth will join the front office as assistant general manager.

The Denver Nuggets announced two new additions to their basketball staff on Wednesday morning. Through Twitter, Denver officially welcomed assistant coach Bob Weiss and assistant general manager Calvin Booth to the organization.

The Nuggets have seen several shakeups to their basketball staff this summer. Before the start of the draft, assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas was promoted to general manager.

This move was made possible by a corresponding promotion of then general manger Tim Connelly to his new position of president of basketball operations.

The move preserved some stability in the front office but it left a hole at the assistant GM position. That hole is now filled, and the 41-year-old Calvin Booth will begin his first full season in that role after spending four seasons as a part of Minnesota’s front office.

Booth played in the NBA for 10 seasons before retiring and pursuing a career as a basketball executive. He began his front office career as a scout for the New Orleans Pelicans before climbing the executive ladder. Booth was eventually named director of player personnel in Minnesota.

Connelly and Booth have crossed paths before. Prior to accepting the general manager gig in Denver, Connelly was himself an assistant GM with the Pelicans — where Booth was getting his start as a scout. Now, with both men having moved up the executive ladder, that relationship is paying off for Booth.

In addition to acquisition of Booth, Denver announced the addition of the newest member of Mike Malone’s staff: assistant coach Bob Weiss. Weiss is a former player himself and a basketball lifer. After 12 years as an NBA player, Weiss went on to coach professional basketball for 34 years.

Weiss has been a head coach in the NBA on four separate occasions. Three of those came in the late ’80s and ’90s, though his most recent stint came in 2005-06 as the head coach for the Seattle SuperSonics. Seattle would finish 35-47 that year, and Weiss was replaced by Bob Hill after just 30 games.

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Weiss’ record as an NBA coach sits at 223-299. This, of course, does not include his games won and lost as a head coach in China, where he coached from 2008-11.

Weiss has considerable experience as an assistant coach, a position that he has held in Charlotte since 2013. Prior to his stint in Charlotte, Weiss spent a year as an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks. Nuggets fans will find this noteworthy, as their recent signee Paul Millsap was still there at the time.

Millsap isn’t Weiss’ only connection to the Nuggets, however. In a radio interview with Scott Hastings and Julie Browman on Altitude 950, Weiss revealed that he developed a relationship with Mike Malone through his closeness with Malone’s father.

Weiss knows Malone well, but he was still surprised to receive the phone call:

"“Out of the blue he [Malone] calls me and I didn’t even know he had an opening – and he really didn’t have an opening; what he’s doing was creating a new position – which is the one I’ve taken,” he said."

Tim Conelly and Mike Malone have earned the trust of ownership in Denver. Now, both men have their team in place around them. Stability and trust is key for a team with a complicated timeline like Denver’s. These two have surrounded themselves with a staff that they trust and know well.

Next: Top 5 free agency destinations for LeBron James in 2018

Let’s see if it translates to a continued success for an organization that is trending upwards.

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